1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to photographic processing equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to devices for stacking cut lengths of photographic strip material, such as photographic film.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In commercial photographic processing operations, very high rates of processing must be achieved and maintained in order to operate profitably. For that reason, many rolls of photographic film are typically spliced together for processing and printing purposes. After prints have been made from the photographic film, the individual customer's film must be separated from the large roll of film formed by the spliced-together film strips. Typically, the customer's film is cut into strips of several frames each so that the strips can be placed flat in an envelope together with the prints.
Film tray assemblies have been developed in the past for use with photographic film cutters. These film tray assemblies receive the cut segments of photographic film and stack the segments which belong to each customer order. When all of the segments belonging to a particular customer order have been stacked, the operator removes the film from the film tray assembly and inserts the film segments into a customer order envelope.
One type of film tray assembly which has been used in the past has a lower plate or tray and an upper plate or arm. The arm is pivotally connected to the tray at the end closest to the knife of the film cutter, or along the back edge of the tray and arm. The films are deposited between the tray and the arm. The film segments are removed from the front side of the assembly.
This type of film tray assembly, however, has several disadvantages. First, the removal of the film by the operator has been somewhat awkward or inconvenient in practice. Second, many of the prior art film tray assemblies have been able to handle only a limited number of film widths. Third, some of the prior art devices have required springs which tend to break during use. Fourth, the stacking of the films by the prior devices has not been altogether satisfactory, the films are often staggered with respect to one another, and require alignment of their edges by the operator prior to insertion in the customer envelope. This, of course, reduces the efficiency of the entire process.